OTTAWA — Bishop Raymond Lahey, who has been charged with possessing child pornography, has travelled to Thailand, a spokeswoman for the church said on Wednesday.

"It was no secret that he travelled to Southeast Asia in the past," said Marilyn Sweet, communications officer for the archdiocese of Halifax. "I don’t know how many times but I certainly know that he had travelled in Southeast Asia."

In a column at halifaxnewsnet.ca this week, radio host Rick Howe wrote that the bishop’s history of travel to sex tourism destinations such as Thailand and Cambodia explained why border officials searched the bishop’s computer at Ottawa International Airport on Sept. 15.

Officials from the Canada Border Services Agency found "images of concern" on his laptop. In a later forensic analysis, investigators found images they allege to be child pornography and issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for the bishop, at which point he resigned.

In an email exchange on Wednesday, Mr. Howe said he does have a source for his assertion, but he can’t reveal it.

"For all I know, Lahey might have had legitimate church business on his travels, but where he went red-flagged him for a check and that was his undoing," he said.

Police, government officials and church spokespeople have declined to reveal where the bishop was coming from when his laptop was seized on Sept. 15.

His secretary at the Antigonish diocese, Cathy Martin, doesn’t know.

"The bishop took care of his own travel arrangements so far as I knew," she said Wednesday.

She would not say how long he was out of the country, referring that question to Rev. Paul Abbass in Antigonish and Ms. Sweet in Halifax. Father Abbass did not respond to an email request. Ms. Sweet said the church is not answering questions for the bishop.

The Privacy Act prevents the Canada Border Services Agency from saying where Bishop Lahey was coming from on Sept. 15, or why agents decided to search his computer.

"It could be any number of things, in terms of behaviour the person exhibits, or anything else they see based on what comes up on the databases that we have access to that record information about that individual," said Chris Kealey.

A former police officer who worked in a child porn unit, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it seems likely that there was some reason for the agents to check the bishop’s computer, but Canada does not have high-tech watch lists at the border to flag suspected child porn importers.

"There’s only one deduction left to make," he said. "This guy gets off the plane. They’re waiting for him. What happened? He’s on somebody’s radar, but whose? Who knows?"

Julian Sher, author of One Child at a Time, about the hunt for child pornographers, said that it seems likely there was some reason for the laptop check.

"I do know that it’s extremely rare that they check for contents of computers. It could be random, but more than likely there was some kind of trigger. The question is, if there was some kind of trigger, what was the trigger. The individual or the travel path?"

Mr. Sher said Canada has failed to take aggressive measures to track down Canadians who sexually exploit children overseas, or get tough in sentencing.

"In one huge case where the Canadians led a huge investigation that led to a big international ring being busted, a lot of the Americans got five or 10 years, some of the Canadians heavily involved got 14 days to be served on weekends," he said. "It’s a joke."

And the fight against child porn is important, he said, because it is so often a marker of child abuse.

One study in the American prison system found 85 per cent of men convicted of possessing child porn admitted to having sexually assaulted children, he said.

Logged

"It is questionable whether the proper functions of Catholics is to hunt down, "expose" and condemn Catholics they suspect of undue rigidity, disobedience or "material schism"; especially while giving support to a Vatican ecumenical campaign which addresses heretics and actual Schismatics as "separated brethren", Jews as "people of the covenant" and Muslims as "people of God". This is part of the overall contradiction (or inconsistency) that permeates the "conservative" mentality. Cloaked in a pledged loyalty to all things "whatsoever" emanating from the Holy See, many "conservatives" will go beyond the measures taken by the Church leaders, or even disagree with their actual positions. The Hawaii "excommunications" were an obvious example but others can be seen. "Conservatives" denounce as "Schismatic" all those who set foot in SSPX chapels while the Vatican embraces the Schismatics in China. "Conservatives" deny any significant change at the Second Vatican Council while the Pope celebrates the enormity and impact of the changes. "Conservatives" seek the conversion of the Eastern "Orthodox" while the Vatican promises not to "proselytize" them. "Conservatives" deride American bishops while the Pope appoints and promotes the same ones." -Peter Miller

"Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society When an immoral society has blatantly and proudly violated all the commandments, it insists upon one last virtue, tolerance for its immorality. It will not tolerate condemnation of its perversions. It creates a whole new world in which only the intolerant critic of intolerable evil is evil." -H. Gibson

Praying for the dead is important. PM me if you need a cantor for the Requiem Mass of a deceased friend or family member. Have cassock and surplice, will travel. (Will also do weddings for a reasonable price.)

Good God, there is really only reason you would go solo to that place and it is not for pilgrimage

sigh how horrible

This is unfortunately true. UNESCO has said it is the child sex capitol of the world, bar non.

Logged

"It is questionable whether the proper functions of Catholics is to hunt down, "expose" and condemn Catholics they suspect of undue rigidity, disobedience or "material schism"; especially while giving support to a Vatican ecumenical campaign which addresses heretics and actual Schismatics as "separated brethren", Jews as "people of the covenant" and Muslims as "people of God". This is part of the overall contradiction (or inconsistency) that permeates the "conservative" mentality. Cloaked in a pledged loyalty to all things "whatsoever" emanating from the Holy See, many "conservatives" will go beyond the measures taken by the Church leaders, or even disagree with their actual positions. The Hawaii "excommunications" were an obvious example but others can be seen. "Conservatives" denounce as "Schismatic" all those who set foot in SSPX chapels while the Vatican embraces the Schismatics in China. "Conservatives" deny any significant change at the Second Vatican Council while the Pope celebrates the enormity and impact of the changes. "Conservatives" seek the conversion of the Eastern "Orthodox" while the Vatican promises not to "proselytize" them. "Conservatives" deride American bishops while the Pope appoints and promotes the same ones." -Peter Miller

"Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society When an immoral society has blatantly and proudly violated all the commandments, it insists upon one last virtue, tolerance for its immorality. It will not tolerate condemnation of its perversions. It creates a whole new world in which only the intolerant critic of intolerable evil is evil." -H. Gibson

If you read this article closely it doesn't say he was returning from Thailand on this trip. I read in another article he was returning from London. But I haven't been able to track that one down again. Perhaps it was a Bangkok - London - Ottawa flight?

Either way, it is almost incomprehensible, that someone with this private vice can be raised to the top levels in the Church, a vice that he has had for at least over 20 years, and of the area that was home to the biggest molestation scandal the Church of Canada has seen, the Mt Cashel orphanage fiasco.

Something really needs to be done. Obviously counseling and talking doesn't work any more, the Church needs to enforce discipline and pennance as the only real cures for sexual deviancy.

It must be recalled that this Bishop did't abuse anyone, that we know of at least, but that he has a predispositon for perversion and so he needs to be sent to a monastery and made to beg his bread.

If you read this article closely it doesn't say he was returning from Thailand on this trip. I read in another article he was returning from London. But I haven't been able to track that one down again. Perhaps it was a Bangkok - London - Ottawa flight?

I heard on the CBC that it was a pattern of visas for countries known for child prostitution, including Thailand, that made the CBSA suspicious and led to the search of his computer.

If you read this article closely it doesn't say he was returning from Thailand on this trip. I read in another article he was returning from London. But I haven't been able to track that one down again. Perhaps it was a Bangkok - London - Ottawa flight?

I heard on the CBC that it was a pattern of visas for countries known for child prostitution, including Thailand, that made the CBSA suspicious and led to the search of his computer.

Wait, a pattern of countries? As in plural? As in, he was on some sort of pedophile world tour?

Logged

"It is questionable whether the proper functions of Catholics is to hunt down, "expose" and condemn Catholics they suspect of undue rigidity, disobedience or "material schism"; especially while giving support to a Vatican ecumenical campaign which addresses heretics and actual Schismatics as "separated brethren", Jews as "people of the covenant" and Muslims as "people of God". This is part of the overall contradiction (or inconsistency) that permeates the "conservative" mentality. Cloaked in a pledged loyalty to all things "whatsoever" emanating from the Holy See, many "conservatives" will go beyond the measures taken by the Church leaders, or even disagree with their actual positions. The Hawaii "excommunications" were an obvious example but others can be seen. "Conservatives" denounce as "Schismatic" all those who set foot in SSPX chapels while the Vatican embraces the Schismatics in China. "Conservatives" deny any significant change at the Second Vatican Council while the Pope celebrates the enormity and impact of the changes. "Conservatives" seek the conversion of the Eastern "Orthodox" while the Vatican promises not to "proselytize" them. "Conservatives" deride American bishops while the Pope appoints and promotes the same ones." -Peter Miller

"Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society When an immoral society has blatantly and proudly violated all the commandments, it insists upon one last virtue, tolerance for its immorality. It will not tolerate condemnation of its perversions. It creates a whole new world in which only the intolerant critic of intolerable evil is evil." -H. Gibson